Not sure how to handle an old friend coming back into my life

This will be a long story but it’s one I wanted to share to get someone’s opinion or if anyone else went through something similar.

I got a text from a random number yesterday saying “hey it’s Lauren, not sure if you still have this number but I wanted to see how you were doing and that I miss you.”

Lauren was my best friend. I mean like super close, practically sisters. Parents were friends as well. We were friends since 7th grade. Going back to 2016, when we were still friends, and I was 26. She was the first friend I announced my engagement to. I immediately asked her to be my bridesmaid and sent her a cute necklace with a bow with a cute saying “I couldn’t tie the knot without you by my side, Lauren, will you be my bridesmaid?” She was ecstatic. She started crying and saying how happy she was for me.

Then came time for bridesmaids dresses. All my bridesmaids live in chicago and I live three hours south. I moved from chicago to be with my now husband four years prior to getting engaged. I decided it would be nice for me to drive up, and we all get together to try on dresses and get lunch afterwards. I got a hold of everyone to ask what would be a good day/time for me to make an appointment. I never heard back from Lauren. I finally called her and she was kind of nervous saying that she probably couldn’t be a bridesmaid anymore because money was tight. I had no problem with it at all, I bit disappointed she couldn’t tell me, being friends for so long, thinking I would be a crazy bridezilla, which isn’t me at all. I told her no problem at all, like seriously don’t worry about it.

Then comes time for my shower which was in chicago. Never heard back from her or her mother, who was also invited, about if they’re going. Two weeks before the shower, I call her and she was like “oh yea no problem, we’ll both be there.” An hour before my shower, I’m getting ready and she texts me saying “sorry I won’t be able to make it, I have to watch my brother and my mom is sick.” I immediately smelled bullshit. All I texted back was “I’m really hoping you make it.” She or her mother never showed. I tried to contact her again when I never received a response from my wedding invitation. I called her and I got “sorry this number is no longer in service.” Wtf. I tried with my husbands phone, thinking she blocked my number or something and same the thing.

I haven’t talked to her since. There’s been no communication. This was back in 2018.

I really won’t know why she all of a sudden ghosted me. Was it jealousy? I was so devastated. I cried right before my own shower and I’ll never know why I lost my best friend.

Prior to all this back in high school, when we were like16, she got really close with someone at her high school. We went to different schools. The friend was a crazy, possessive, manipulative bitch. She hated me because I was friends with Lauren first. The nerve of me. Lauren and I got into a fight over this crazy ass bitch. I was telling her she’s super possessive and doesn’t want you to have any other friends and it’s weird. I got along with all of Lauren’s other friends but this girl was on another level. She didn’t believe me and we stopped talking. A year later she texted me saying she was sorry and I was right about her crazy ass friend. And they weren’t friends anymore. We talked about it and we’re friends again. It was like there was never a gap between our friendship.

I’m seeing an obvious pattern here. And it’s one of those situations where if you fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I don’t trust her anymore as a friend and she maybe has a problem or something. Again, I don’t know anything because she ghosted me and wouldn’t talk to me. I never texted her back because I’m not going through bullshit again.